55 knot foiler - Hydroptère

Alain Thébault and the team of Hydroptère have succeeded in setting a new sailing speed record. On September 4th the crew took their highly-developed foiling trimaran to a new record of 51.36 knots over 500 metres and 48.72 knots over 1 nautical mile on Hyères Harbour.

The two new records were ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council on September 24th, making Hydroptère the fastest sailing machine on the planet.This amazing foiler turned 28 knots of breeze into 51 knots of boat speed. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.

Top speed measured was 55.5 knots (103 km/h). The fastest average speed over 500m was recorded on the last of 8 runs by the boat on September 4th. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.

Concentration at 100 km/h! Hydroptèreis configured for open-ocean sailing, not just record attempts in protected waters. The team are looking to set an open-ocean speed record next. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.

The fastest men under sail! Alain Thébault and his crew - Anders Bringdal, Jean-Mathieu Bourgeon, François Cazala, Damien Colegrave, Stéphane Dyen, Matt Hodgson, Jérémie Lagarrigue, Pierre Trémouille, Gérard Navarin and Jacques Vincent. Photo © Gilles Martin-Raget / L'Hydroptère, used with permission.

North Atlantic record tumbles to Banque Populaire V

The crew of Banque Populaire V after breaking the North Atlantic record. Image © BPCE/Benoit Stichelbaut, used with permission

After 6 weeks on stand-by in New York city, Pascal Bidégorry and his team aboard Banque Populaire V sprinted across the North Atlantic to smash the previous record by 12 hours and 32 minutes on August 2nd. In a dramatic downwind drag-race across the North Atlantic (a “duel Atlantique”), the 40m long Banque Populaire V arrived off Lizard Point just 12 minutes before Franck Cammas and his crew aboard the 31.5m long Groupama 3 (the previous record holder) who left New York 2 hours and 35 minutes ahead. Groupama 3 also beat their 2007 record, but they were not as fast as Banque Populaire V. The new record stands at 3 days 15 hours 25 minutes and 48 seconds, an average speed of 32.9 knots.

On the third day of the crossing, Banque Populaire V also established a new record for the distance covered in a 24 hour period, covering an incredible 907 nautical miles (1,044 miles or 1,680km) at an average speed of 37.79 knots (70 km/h). The fastest speed achieved on the crossing by the world’s largest trimaran was 46 knots (85 km/h).

Both trimarans decided to depart from New York city into the same weather window, and after a slow start on day 1 they were rewarded with around 30 knots of wind at an ideal angle (130°) by day 2. Groupama 3 was the faster of the two boats when the winds were below 20 knots, but when the winds went over 25 knots Banque Populaire V was the faster boat, taking advantage of her longer waterline.

On breaking the record, Pascal Bidégorry said “I did not think we could go through so quickly. We did not ask whether we could better the time of 2007. We stayed focused on the weather, strategy and progress of the boat, obsessed only with squeezing the most speed out of the boat. Banque Populaire V is unique and we are all extremely proud to sail on this exceptional boat.”

Arriving off Lizard Point after breaking the North Atlantic record. Image © BPCE/Benoit Stichelbaut, used with permission

This was a truly awesome drag-race between two of the most advanced sailing machines on the planet – and they are likely to meet again as both boats go into preparation for an around-the-world attempt for the Jules Verne trophy.

The team aboard Groupama 3 arriving off Lizard Point. They broke their 2007 record, but were not as fast as the larger Banque Populaire V. Image © SEA&CO /Benoit Stichelbaut, used with permission

The Discovery Route will have to wait as the French head for New York

Following several months of waiting for a suitable weather window which never arrived ("pas de fenetre météo favourable"), two of the world's most advanced trimarans have abandoned their attempts on the Discovery Route record for now - and both are headed to New York for an attempt on the North Atlantic record.

The crew of the 40m (131ft) Banque Populaire V under the leadership of Pascal Bidégorry have left their stand-by port of Cadiz in Spain and headed for New York via their regular home base of Lorient, expecting to be on stand-by for the record attempt by June 26th.

At the same time, Thomas Coville and a small crew are currently sailing Sodeb'O from La Trinité-sur-Mer to New York to stand-by for a solo attempt on the North Atlantic record.

The North Atlantic route takes sailors from New York to Lizard Point in Cornwall, the southern-most point in the UK. The current record holder is Groupama 3, sailed by Franck Cammas and a crew of 9. They made the crossing in 4 days 3 hours 57 minutes and 54 seconds - an average speed of 28.65 knots over the 2,925 mile course.

Records: Groupama 3 makes it number 5

Groupama 3 sailed by Franck Cammas and his crew have broken the Mediterranean Crossing record, reducing the crossing time from Marseilles in France to Carthage in Tunisia to 17 hours 15 minutes and 33 seconds (that's an average speed of 26.72 knots) which was 48 minutes and 10 seconds faster than Bruno Peyron and his crew aboard the catamaran Orange 2.

This makes it record number 5 for the 31.5 metre (105 feet) trimaran, the first since she lost a float near New Zealand in an attempt on the round-the-world Jules Verne Trophy.

All the details can be seen on the Groupama website.


Image courtesy of Pline, Wikimedia commons.